Latch



C. A. MASSOLL.

LATCH.

APPLICATON FILED MAY B. IQIB.

Patented May 4, 1920.

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1. a 4 ea UNITED snares. PATENT OFFICE.

CURTIS A. MASSOLL, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF TO JOHN A. WHITTAKER, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

LATCH.

Application filed May 8, 1918.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CURTIS A. MASSOLL, a citizen of the United States, residin at Detroit, county of Wayne, State of ichl an, have invented a certain new and useful mprovement in Latches, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art towhich it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyin Idrawings, which form a art of this speci cation.

y invention relates to latches for use upon so-called French doors, or upon casement windows, shown in the accompanying drawings and more articular-l described in the followin 'speci cation anr claim.

It is well nown that'doors of the above type,-constructed a's 'they are almost entirely of glass,'mountid in a comparatively narrow supporting frame,are a t to be come warped or bent,-making it Iliicult to properly close the door when required. It is therefore one of the objects of this invention to provide a latch or locking-means, adapted when manually op'erated force the door into the desired "sit1on,-or against the rabbeted edge of tie casing in which it is hung, whereby if in warped or bent condition it may be straightened to provide a proper closure.

It is also well known that doors frequently sag after hanging to such an extent that the latch bolt will not register with the latch receiving plate, making it necessary to change the position of the latter that it may again register with the bolt. Therefore a further object of the invention is to insure the bolt registering with the latch plate even though these parts may not be in the same relation to each other as when originally installed.

\Vith the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description roceeds, the invention resides in the comliination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed. it being understood that the changes may be made in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed without departing from the spirit of the same.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figuril is u i'ragmcnturv front Plural hi: ot' a door and its casing. showing the latch in position. with parts i't'lIHH'P-l to disclose the bolt operating mechanism.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 4, 1920.

Serial No. 338,246.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of a modification employing an upwardly and a downwardly iiirected bolt, actuated by a single operating ever.

Fig. 3 is a lon itudinal sectional view at right angles to i 2 with parts broken awa showing the fouble wedge-shaped end of t 1e floor engaging bolt.

Fig. 4 is another modification, showing a mortise latch bolt having a tapering end to enter the bolt receiving plate.

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the bolt receiving plate shown in the preceding figure, provided with anti-friction rolls or balls, arranged in an annular form for the entry of the bolt.

Referring now to the letters of reference placed upon the drawings:

A, denotes a door frame, B, thedoor casing. indicates a locking bolt secured: by screws 0. c. to the o erating rod C, in turn connected with t rack bar C, housed within the inclosing case D,-the latter bein secured to the stile or side pieces of the door.

E, denotes a pinion in mesh with the rack bar 6* adapted to be manually actuated by an operating lever E. The rack bar 0, 1s recessed on its opposite side to receive a spring F, which serves the dual purpose of .kee wing the teeth of the rack bar in mesh witi the pinion, and providing a yieldablc drag upon the side wall of the inclosing case D, to insure against the accidental rotation of the pinion due to the weight of the bar. C C are lugs projecting from the bar toward the side wall of the case to prevent the bar from tilting at its lower end. The bolt C, is of an arc-shaped wed e form designed to enter a keeper G, secure to the door frame provided with an anti-friction roll G, against which the inclined or wedgeshaped end of the bolt is designed to bear upon entering the keeper, that the door may be forced into the desired position,0r into abutting contact with the rabbeted edge of the door casing, whereby any bent or war ed condition of the door may be corrected. he end of the bolt may be of maximum width for a short distance as indicated at G, so

that if the door should sag. the action of the tapering end of the bolt would still be fully t-li'm'tivc t0 l'ort-o the door upon t'lnsin'g t0 the desired position. The extension of maximum width forms an enlarged or elongated llL'ilLl of greater thickness than the body of lit) the bolt and the keepers are adapted to permit this extended movement of the bolts to force the door when saggin or otherwise, inwardl to the full extent 0% the tapered or wedge-s iaped portion of the bolts so that the sagging of the door will have no effect on the closing action of the tapered or wedgeshaped portions of the bolts. The enlarged elongated heads of the bolts form projecting lugs or portions at the vertica faces as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

When employed upon double-swinging doors, or upon doors not designed to close against a sill or rabbeted casing, double wedge-shaped bolts C, as shown in Fig. 3 may be employed ;--the bolts entering a keeper Gr provided with two anti-friction rolls G, i, spaced apart to receive them. It will be apparent that doors not designed to close against a rabbeted casing may be thus securely held, and if bent or warped may be forced to a predetermined position through the action of the double wedgeshaped bolts when manually forced into their respective keepers.

In the modification shown in Figs. 4 and 5 the latch bolt is of the mortise type, its tapering end entering a bolt receiving plate preferably provided with an annular ring comprising anti friction rolls or balls H.

It will be readily understood that the sagging of a door fitted with the ordinary orm of latch bolt would throw the end of the bolt out of register with the hole in its receivin plate and thus prevent the operation of e bolt to lock the door. The tapering end of the bolt in the present invention, however, insures its operation even thou h the bolt and its receiving plate may not e in the same relation to each other as when originally installed.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

In a device of the class described, keepers located at the top and bottom of a door casing and provided at the outer sides with bolt engaging means, vertically movable bolts. mounted on the door and provided at their outer ends with tapering heads presenting inclined outer faces to the bolt engaging means of the keepers for forcing the door inwardly to its closed position, said heads being of greater width than the body portion of the bolts and forming projecting lugs and provided at the inner ends of the inclined faces with vertical faces extending from the said tapered portions and slidable over the bolt engaging means as the door has been forced inwardly by the said inclined faces of the bolts, the bolt engaging means of the keepers being arranged to permit an extended movement of the bolts whereby any sagging of the door will be prevented from diminishing the effectiveness of the tapered portions of the heads of the bolts in forcing the door tightly to its closed position.

. In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses. CURTIS A. MASSOLL. Witnesses:

S. E. THOMAS, Jorm A. Wm'rmxnn. 

